REPUBLIC ACT No. 4681
An Act Granting Pablo M. Heyrana a Franchise to Construct, Maintain and Operate a Tone Calling System of Communications in the Philippines
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippine Congress Assembled:
Section 1. Subject to the provisions of the Constitution, Pablo M. Heyrana is hereby granted a franchise to construct, maintain and operate for commercial purposes and in the public interest, for a period of twenty-five years, a tone calling system of communications in the Philippines: Provided, That this franchise shall be void unless the construction of at least one radio paging station be begun within two years from the approval of this Act, and be completed within four years from said date.
Section 2. Such provisions of Act Numbered Thirty-eight hundred forty-six, entitled "An Act providing for the regulation of radio stations and radio communications in the Philippine Islands, and for other purposes;" Act Numbered Thirty-nine hundred ninety-seven, known as the Radio Broadcasting Law; Commonwealth Act Numbered One hundred forty-six, known as the Public Service Act, and their amendments, as are applicable to radio broadcasting stations shall be applied, as far as practicable, to the radio paging stations referred to herein.
Section 3. As a condition of the granting of this franchise, the grantee shall execute a bond in favor of the Government of the Philippines in the sum of two thousand pesos in form and with sureties satisfactory to the Secretary of Public Works and Communications, conditioned upon the faithful performance of the grantee’s obligations hereunder during the first three years of the life of this franchise. If, after four years from the date of acceptance of this franchise, the grantee shall have fulfilled said obligations or as soon thereafter, the bond shall be cancelled by the Secretary of Public Works and Communications.1avvphi1
Section 4. Acceptance of this franchise shall be given in writing within six months after the approval of this Act. When so accepted by grantee and upon approval of the bond aforesaid by the Secretary of Public Works and Communications the grantee shall be empowered to exercise the privileges granted thereby.
Section 5. The grantee’s radio paging stations shall not be put in actual operation until the Secretary of Public Works and Communications shall have allotted to the grantee the frequency and wave lengths to be used under this franchise and issued to the grantee a license for its use.
Section 6. In the event of any competing individual, partnership or corporation receiving from the Congress of the Philippines a similar franchise in which there shall be any term or terms more favorable than those herein granted or tending to place the herein grantee at any disadvantage, then such term or terms shall ipso facto become a part of the terms hereof and shall operate equally in favor of the grantee as in the case of said competing individual, partnership or corporation.
Section 7. (a) The grantee shall be liable to pay the same taxes on his real estate, buildings and personal property, exclusive of the franchise, as other persons or corporations are now or hereafter may be required by law to pay.
(b) The grantee shall further be liable to pay all other taxes that may be imposed by the National Internal Revenue Code by reason of this franchise.
Section 8. The grantee shall hold the national, provincial and municipal governments of the Philippines harmless from all claims, accounts, demands, or actions arising out of accidents or injuries, whether to property or to persons, caused by the construction or operation of the stations of the grantee.
Section 9. The franchise hereby granted shall be subject to amendment, alteration or repeal by the Congress of the Philippines when the public interest so requires.
Section 10. A special right is reserved to the President of the Philippines in time of war, rebellion, public peril, emergency, calamity, disaster or disturbance of peace and order, to cause the closing of said stations or to authorize the temporary use and operation thereof by any department of the Government upon due compensation to the grantee for the use of said stations during the period when they shall be so operated.
Section 11. The grantee shall not lease, transfer, grant the usufruct of, sell or assign this franchise nor the rights and privileges acquired thereunder to any person, natural or juridical, nor merge with any other person without the previous approval of the Congress of the Philippines. Any person to which this franchise is sold, transferred or assigned, shall be subject to all the conditions, terms, restrictions and limitations of this franchise as fully and completely and to the same extent as if the franchise had been originally granted to such person.
Section 12. This franchise shall not be interpreted as an exclusive grant of the privileges herein provided for.
Section 13. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
Approved: June 18, 1966.
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